| | | | | |  | | By Rebecca Rainey and Eleanor Mueller | Presented by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation | Editor's Note: Weekly Shift is a weekly version of POLITICO Pro's daily Employment & Immigration policy newsletter, Morning Shift. POLITICO Pro is a policy intelligence platform that combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day's biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro. PROGRAMMING NOTE: Morning Shift will not publish from Dec. 25 to Jan. 1. We'll be back on our normal schedule on Monday, Jan. 4. | | | After two extra days for negotiations, lawmakers spent Sunday evening scrambling to pass a massive $900 billion Covid-19 stimulus package and a $1.4 trillion bill to keep the government funded through September. Party leaders were finally able to agree on more coronavirus aid to prop up the economy after settling negotiations between Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) "over the GOP's wish to wind down lending programs established by the relief bill passed in March," our Congress team reports . Congress had to pass a 24-hour spending patch last night in order to prevent a federal shutdown and plans to take up the measures today. | 
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks at a press conference on Capitol Hill on December 20, 2020 in Washington, DC. | Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images | The package contains "a $300 boost in weekly unemployment benefits, $600 relief checks for individuals, more than $300 billion for small business aid and huge pots of money for schools, hospitals and vaccine distribution," according to our Congress team. The bill would also extend several unemployment benefit programs set to expire at the end of the week. But Washington is too late to prevent benefit checks from lapsing for millions of the unemployed. LEFT OUT: Lawmakers were unable to agree on provisions to shield businesses and schools from liability for coronavirus infections, as well as aid for state and local governments. GOOD MORNING. It's Monday, Dec. 21, and this is Morning Shift, your tipsheet on employment and immigration news. Send tips, exclusives and suggestions to emueller@politico.com and rrainey@politico.com. Follow us on Twitter at @Eleanor_Mueller and @RebeccaARainey. | | A message from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation: Who doesn't start a business in America? Six percent of the U.S. adult population has wanted to, but they ultimately decided against it. So, why did they stop? Download the Kauffman Foundation's new report to learn more. | | | | | | SCOTUS REJECTS CHALLENGE TO TRUMP CENSUS MOVE: The Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge to President Donald Trump's bid to exclude all unlawful immigrants from apportionment data for the 2020 census, finding that it would be "premature" to decide the legality of the policy, our Zach Montellaro and Josh Gerstein report. "At present," an unsigned opinion from the court's majority read, "this case is riddled with contingencies and speculation that impede judicial review." The details: The ruling "leaves unresolved the possibility that Trump or a future president may be able to leave out some groups of non-citizens from the critical tally used to allocate House seats," Zach and Josh write. "The court's majority did not squarely address the legality of excluding from the count all foreigners illegally in the country, but said that it appears impractical to do so." What now? It's unclear if the Census Bureau would actually be able to produce the data needed to identify immigrants who could potentially be excluded in time for the Trump administration to leave them out of the count, the legality of such a move notwithstanding. President-elect Joe Biden will also likely halt the process of excluding such immigrants if it's not wrapped up by the time he takes office. | | | AND THEN THERE WERE 2... The FDA authorized emergency use of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine Friday, "adding millions of doses to the national supply," our Sarah Owermohle reports . "Like Pfizer's vaccine, the Moderna shot uses messenger RNA technology that gives cells instruction to recognize and fight the virus." WHO GETS IT NEXT? "People 75 and older and essential frontline workers should be the next in line for limited supplies of Covid-19 vaccines, an expert group advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Sunday," our Brianna Ehley reports. The new recommendations are nonbinding, "since states make the final decisions over who to prioritize for vaccination," Brianna writes. But they say 30 million essential workers should get the second round of shots — "including cops and firefighters, school staff, food workers, and public transit and postal workers, among others." The announcement was applauded by the United Food and Commercial Workers, which argued that its members working in meatpacking and food processing and those in grocery stores have been "putting themselves in harm's way to feed our families during this crisis." MORE: "Major U.S. companies are lobbying in a scrum for early vaccine," from The Washington Post | | | | EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT TRANSITION PLAYBOOK, SUBSCRIBE TODAY: A new year is quickly approaching. Inauguration Day is right around the corner. President-elect Joe Biden's staffing decisions are sending clear-cut signals about his priorities. What do these signals foretell? Transition Playbook is the definitive guide to the new administration and one of the most consequential transfers of power in American history. Written for political insiders, this scoop-filled newsletter breaks big news daily and analyzes the appointments, people and emerging power centers of the new administration. Track the transition and the first 100 days of the incoming Biden administration. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | | SHIFT EXCLUSIVE — SEIU EXECUTIVE BOARD APPROVES VACCINE PRINCIPLES: The Service Employees International Union has developed a set of vaccine principles , approved by its executive board Friday and provided exclusively to Weekly Shift. It dictates that employers must provide the vaccine free of charge, give priority to workers "hardest hit" and not use vaccination as a substitute for worker safety. "The vaccine does not diminish our resolve to win the demands essential workers continue to lay out: respect us, pay us, protect us. We will keep pressure on the corporations who are still failing to ensure workers' safety. And our efforts with the new Congress and the Biden Administration will work toward a recovery that holds corporations accountable and prioritizes the needs of essential workers and Black and brown communities." WHAT WE'RE WATCHING: " Amazon readies to face union vote at Alabama warehouse," from NBC News | | | | A NEW YEAR, A NEW HUDDLE: Huddle, our daily must-read in congressional offices, will have a new author in 2021! Olivia Beavers will take the reins on Jan. 4, and she has some big plans in store. Don't miss out, subscribe to our Huddle newsletter, the essential guide to all things Capitol Hill. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | | HISPANIC CAUCUS PUSHES BIDEN FOR MORE LATINO NOMINEES: The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is urging Biden to pick two more Latinos — Connecticut Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona for Education Secretary and Stacie Olivares, a California public pensions official, to lead the Small Business Administration, according to a letter sent Friday evening to the Biden transition team. WAIT A MINUTE... The caucus's backing of Cardona is a shift from a previous letter calling on Biden to name former National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García to the post, our Laura Barrón-López reports , although the lawmakers said they remain "strongly supportive" of Eskelsen García. "Backing multiple candidates for the job could help the Hispanic Caucus' chances of seeing more Latinos named to the Cabinet," Laura writes. NOMINEES FACE SENATE SHOWDOWN: Republicans plan to make Biden's Cabinet nominees "run the gauntlet" at their confirmations if the GOP keeps its Senate majority in January, our Jesse Naranjo reports. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) warned on Sunday that Republicans "are not going to forget what happened with President Trump's administration and the delayed process that went through it." Barrasso, the No. 3 Senate Republican, said the nominees announced so far look like a "third term of the Obama administration," Jesse reports. "So, it's not going to be a garden party," the senator said on "Fox News Sunday." | | | |   | | | | | | SHIFT EXCLUSIVE — MAJORITY OF VOTERS SUPPORT SPENDING ON CHILD CARE, PAID LEAVE: A majority of registered Democratic and Republican voters support ensuring workers' access to paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave as well as investing in child care, according to a poll conducted by Caring Across Generations, Paid Leave for All Action and the TIME'S UP Foundation and provided exclusively to Weekly Shift. Of those surveyed, 79 percent of Democrats and 69 percent of Republicans supported paid sick leave. Similar numbers of Democrats and more than half of Republicans also supported both paid family leave and paid medical leave. And three-quarters of Democrats and half of Republicans supported improving access to child care. Where they split: Just 40 percent of Republicans supported expanded unemployment insurance, compared to 65 percent of Democrats. Similar but different: The results track with those of another recent poll, conducted by the SEIU and the National Domestic Workers Alliance and released Friday. That poll found that 88 percent of voters support Biiden's $775 billion caregiving plan, which would make significant investments in child care. Important context: The relief package circulated last week would not extend the emergency paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave programs enacted under the initial coronavirus relief bill, meaning those cushions could soon expire for millions of workers . The latest coronavirus aid bill will, however, appropriate $10 billion to child care facilities impacted by Covid-19. | | A message from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation: Roughly six percent of the adult population in the U.S. has been deeply interested in starting a business in the last five years, but ultimately decided against it or decided to wait. So, why did they stop?
For some, seeking advice or guidance is a challenge. For others, family considerations play an important role in the decision-making process.
The Kauffman Foundation's latest report sheds light on the "pre-entrepreneur" to help better identify them, understand them, and support them. Learn more and download the report. | | | | | | — "Restaurant Safety Net Frays as Covid-19 Pandemic Progresses to Winter," from The Wall Street Journal — "Job seekers, beware of scams," from The Los Angeles Times — " Racism targets Asian food, business during COVID-19 pandemic," from The Associated Press — "A Company Made P.P.E. for the World. Now Its Workers Have the Virus," from The New York Times — "Indian iPhone Factory Apologizes to Workers for Mishandling Wages," from The Wall Street Journal THAT'S ALL FOR MORNING SHIFT! | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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